They Are Not Soldiers: Women and Children Now Make Up 70% of Warzone Deaths Worldwide
As bombs fall and bullets fly, the most innocent are paying the ultimate price. It’s time to speak up—for the mothers, daughters, and children who never chose these wars.
In the fog of modern warfare, amidst Gaza Crumbling Hospitals and shattered classrooms, and homes, one truth pierces through the smoke: the primary victims of today’s wars are not soldiers. They are women and children. Civilians. Innocents. The ones least responsible for conflict, yet paying the heaviest price.
Across warzones around the world—from Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to Syria—women and children now make up roughly 70% of all deaths in conflict zones, according to multiple UN agencies and humanitarian reports. That number is staggering. Alarming. And it’s rising.
Yet despite this horrifying truth, war continues to be framed as a political chess game, a contest between armies, ideologies, and leaders. Meanwhile, the blood of children soaks the earth beneath fallen cities.
This must end.
Gaza: A Humanitarian Horror Unfolding in Real-Time
Since October 2023, the Gaza Strip has become one of the deadliest places on Earth. Most of Gaza's 48,000 dead are women and children, says the UN rights chief. “On average, about 130 people have been killed every day in Gaza, the majority are women and children.” Mr. Türk continued, citing estimates based on data from the enclave’s health authorities, before describing the “scale of the Israeli military’s destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and places of worship [as] deeply shocking.”
Let that sink in: More than 13,000 children—some reports say over 14,000—have died in Gaza. Many were crushed beneath the rubble. Many died slowly in hospitals stripped of power and medicine. Many never even had a chance to understand what was happening.
The Israeli government claims its airstrikes target Hamas militants. But no one can ignore the vast scale of civilian casualties. The UN and independent watchdogs have repeatedly warned that the use of high-powered explosives in one of the most densely populated areas on Earth guarantees civilian suffering.
Entire families are wiped out in a single missile strike. Babies are pulled from the arms of dead mothers. Mass graves have become a daily reality. The living are not much better off—children are starving, women are giving birth in tents, no one is safe, and no one is willing to take a real stand on what’s really happening to humanity.
The statistics are beyond belief:
More than 1.9 million people (nearly 90% of the population) - 9 out of 10 inhabitants of Gaza - have been displaced multiple times. For most of them, humanitarian aid has been their only lifeline. Over 650,000 school-aged children have not attended school since the war began, during which they have experienced extreme violence, and lost their parents and friends, and more than 80% of homes and residential structures have been destroyed or severely damaged.
Hospitals and schools—clearly marked and operated by UN agencies—have been bombed repeatedly.
And what’s worse?
The suffering is not accidental. This is calculated cruelty, and the world has allowed it to continue.
Ukraine: The Cold Reality Behind the Headlines
While international coverage of Ukraine has faded from front pages, the war’s brutality continues. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, more than 12,910 killed, 30,700 wounded (confirmed minimum, though higher), according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Over 2000 of those are children.
But the real toll goes far beyond death counts. Women and children in Ukraine face a different kind of violence:
Rape and sexual violence have been widely reported, used as tools of terror in occupied regions.
Millions of women have fled across borders with children, becoming refugees overnight.
Those who remain endure shelling, hunger, isolation, and the constant threat of death.
Over 6 million Ukrainians are now refugees in Europe, and another 5 million are internally displaced. Many of these women are vulnerable to human trafficking, exploitation, and poverty.
While weapons and financial aid pour into the country, the humanitarian response remains woefully underfunded. And those at the heart of the crisis—women rebuilding communities, raising children amid rubble, resisting despair—are often left out of the conversation.
The New Face of War: Civilians as Targets
Modern warfare has changed. It is no longer a battlefield of armies facing off across open fields. Today, wars are fought inside cities, among civilians, using technology that blurs the line between combatant and bystander.
Drones hover above neighborhoods, dropping bombs on suspected threats with little accountability.
Sieges and blockades cut off food, water, and medical supplies—tools of mass civilian punishment.
Information warfare floods social media with propaganda, painting civilian deaths as “necessary sacrifices.”
But let’s be clear: There is nothing accidental about this suffering. Civilian infrastructure is being targeted. Women are being left to deliver babies in the dark. Children are being shot at checkpoints. This is not "collateral damage." This is the intentional dehumanization of those who have no voice in war.
In Syria, Sudan, Myanmar, and Yemen—the pattern repeats. And around the world, leaders remain silent, choosing politics over protection.
A Gendered War
This violence is not evenly distributed. War is a gendered crisis.
Women are killed. Raped. Starved. Displaced. Their children die from hunger, disease, or bombings. And when the guns fall silent, they are left to rebuild the broken pieces—often alone.
In Gaza, women are giving birth without anesthesia, in tents, surrounded by death. In Ukraine, women flee with babies in their arms, forced to rely on strangers and shelters. In Sudan, rape is used as a weapon of war, and girls as young as 12 are forced into marriages to escape death.
When women survive, they often carry the guilt of those who didn’t. They bury their families. They try to create normalcy for traumatized children. They organize food, water, and education—without aid, recognition, or rest.
To say they are “resilient” is not enough. They are exhausted. And the world owes them more than admiration—we owe them action.
The Deafening Silence of the International Community
Where is the outrage?
UN resolutions are vetoed by powerful nations.
Human rights organizations are defunded or ignored.
Media coverage treats civilian deaths as footnotes to military strategy.
The weapons keep coming, but ceasefires are dismissed. Billions are spent on bombs, but humanitarian aid is blocked or politicized. Meanwhile, children die.
The hypocrisy is glaring: World leaders speak of “rules-based orders,” yet break every rule of human decency. They host peace summits while signing arms deals. They promise support but turn away refugees.
This is not neutrality—it is betrayal.
Enough Is Enough: What Must Be Done
We are at a breaking point. We cannot let this become the new normal. A world where women and children are the main casualties of war is a world where humanity has failed.
So what do we do?
Demand Immediate Ceasefires in Civilian Zones
Civilians must be protected at all costs. No exceptions. Ceasefires should not be political tools—they are moral obligations.
Enforce International Law
War crimes must be prosecuted. Bombing schools, hospitals, and refugee camps is a war crime, and those responsible must be held accountable—no matter how powerful they are.
Reframe the Narrative
Stop talking about “surgical strikes” and “strategic targets” when the majority of the dead are under 18. Name what’s really happening.
Support Women-Led Relief Efforts
Women are already leading on the ground. Fund them. Listen to them. Protect them.
Speak Out—Loudly and Relentlessly
Protest. Write. Call. Post. Demand more from your leaders, your media, your communities. Silence kills.
A Final Plea: They Are Not Soldiers
Look into the eyes of the orphaned child in Gaza. Watch the video of the grandmother sobbing beside her destroyed home in Ukraine. Listen to the voice of the young girl in Sudan begging not to be married off to survive.
They are not soldiers.
They didn’t choose these wars. They didn’t pick up a weapon. They didn’t invade, bomb, or occupy. And yet, they are the ones dying.
If you’ve read this far, you already know: that something must change.
This is your call to action. Use your voice. Use your influence. Refuse to be silent. Because every day we look away, another woman dies in childbirth without aid. Another child is buried in the rubble. Another family is lost.
Enough is enough.
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Do it for the children buried under rubble. For the mothers forced to give birth in tents. For the girls who never made it to adulthood because the world stayed silent.